Going the Distance Review

The Rom-Com’s are coming thick and fast and the latest of these is ‘Going the Distance’ which hits our screens in September. After thoroughly enjoying The Switch, could going the Distance add to my new found enjoyment in Romantic Comedy movies?

Directed by Nanette Burstein, the story of Going the Distance is a relationship against-the-odds tale that has been told a hundred times. Boy breaks up with girl, boy meets new girl, girl is only in town for 6 weeks, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl struggle to maintain a long distance relationship, boy and girl break up, boy and girl get back together, The end. Predictable? Yes! Entertaining? Pretty much.

Justin Long stars as Garrett, a lowly A&R employee and Drew Barrymore is Erin, a journalism student on internship in New York. After a whirlwind six weeks, romance brings them closer than either of them would have expected but decide to follow their hearts and endure a long distance relationship. Erin returns to San Francisco and Garrett remains in New York, but the relationship takes its toll as neither enjoy the online chats (or phone sex!) over physical contact.

Both struggle to find full time employment in their respective cities to bring them the connection that they both need. On top of this, Garrett has to overcome Erin’s sisters hatred of him after a shocking first introduction and struggles to get the support of his friends who have suffered his many failed relationships. Will they Go the Distance? What do you think!

I found Going the Distance a surprisingly enjoyable movie which is mainly down to the convincing on screen chemistry of real life partners, Justin Long and Drew Barrymore. They entertain and add plenty of laughs throughout the film and offered enough to make you at least give a dam if their relationship worked which is vitally important if this movie was work. The story was of course as predictable as watching Star Wars for the 100th time, but still, Going the Distance felt like it was trying something different with a story of the struggles of love surviving over a long distance and in all fairness it succeeds.

The supporting cast play their part in making the film enjoyable with Garrett’s friends offering a majority of the laughs with Charlie Day as Dan, Garret’s room mate and Jason Sudeikis as Box, his best friend. Both give funny, and at times, much needed laughs with some wacky humour and irrelevant advice to Garrett. Really they are just filler roles to add a distraction to the love story but I did enjoy their part in the film. Christina Applegate played Erin’s protective and erratic sister Corinne who I wasn’t sure was funny or just annoying. She did appear in some of the funnier scenes but her role seemed too over the top compared to the rest of the movie, where as her husband Phil, played by Jim Gaffigan, was very funny indeed.

It’s not a great film and at times is plain stupid, but if your a man that’s being dragged to see it it by your partner after taking her to see The Expendables, then you won’t be suffering too much. Enjoy it , have a few laughs and let the film pass you by.